


Explosives would be easier

by Argentum_Industires



Series: Explosives would be easier [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Babysitting, Bucky Is Trying, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, but he underestimates how energetic toddlers are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 15:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12039321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argentum_Industires/pseuds/Argentum_Industires
Summary: Steve and Nat want to have a night out. Bucky volunteers to look after baby James. But the kid takes after his parents far too much. These are the last two hours of that night.





	Explosives would be easier

**Author's Note:**

> I was writing a fluffy piece, and realised it fit wonderfully with these characters.
> 
> Enjoy!

Bucky stared down at the tiny toddler running around his legs, and he wondered why the hell he had ever signed up to look after the kid for the evening. At this point on a Saturday, he could have been down at the pub, drinking a pint and watching the game. Or off on a mission, avoiding enemies and explosives. That sounded relaxing.

Instead, he was covered in red paint along his right forearm, had his hair wet from shoving it under the tap to get the apple sauce out, and his pants had an unidentified stain on them.

Little James sprinted off towards the couch, and Bucky tried desperately not to trip over the remote controlled car that lay abandoned in his path. Right next to the Legos, comic books, dollhouse and baseball that created an obstacle course that would probably kill him. What a way to go. Seventy years, dozens of near death scenarios, and it would be America’s pastime that would fell him.

He looped around the couch, and scooped up James, who tried once again to wiggle his way out of his uncle’s grip – but Bucky had learned his lesson, never once lessening his grip on the young boy, using every cybernetic implant to his advantage.

“C’mon, sport, time for bed.”

“Bwot Uncle Buuucky. It’s pirate time!”

“We had Pirate time already kid. Now you’ve gotta lay down for a bit-“

“I don wanna!”

Bucky sighed as he trudged up the stairs, toddler swung over his shoulder, James’ footie clad feat beating a drumbeat unto his chest. The kid was surprisingly bruising.  Bucky walked into the child’s room and flopped him on the bed, and sighed again.

“Yeah, but I do. So you’ve gotta work with me sport.”

The toddler pouted, lip sticking out and crossing his small arms on his chest, and Bucky was suddenly struck by how strikingly similar he looked to his father. They really pouted the same way. Put a beard on the kid and he had a Halloween costume ready to go. Bucky held his ground, though, and James let out sigh of his own.

“Fine” he said. Then he reached up, wrapping his arms around Bucky’s neck. “Love you Uncle Buck”

“Love you too sport”

Bucky left the room, closing the door behind him and padding back downstairs. He started to pick up all the scattered toys (how many had Steve – wait, no this was definitely Nat’s doing – bought?), and throwing them into their boxes. He then cleaned up the paint smears on the table (remnants of the painting session), before finally clearing away the dishes they had used for dinner. How did his parents do this all the time?

He decided to go up and check on the kid one more time before sitting down, and opened the door, expecting to see him curled up with his teddy. Instead he found… nothing.

He’d lost the kid. Nat was going to kill him.

Cue a desperate search through the house. He looked under every piece of furniture, in every room, twice. He checked for possible intruders, reviewed the external CCTV cameras, and even crawled into the tiny storage area at the corner of the attic. The moment he looped back to the living room, he was starting to consider a life as a fugitive, when he heard a small giggle. He followed the sound, and found what appeared to be Steve’s shield laughing at his misfortune. As he pulled it away, James looked up at him with the same puppy eyes Steve used when he knew he was in trouble. And then bolted.

+++

When Nat and Steve came home, they found Bucky passed out on the couch. And a very victorious looking James snuggled on top of him, trapped under his metal arm. As Nat gently pulled her child away to put him in his bed, Bucky began to rouse.

Steve put a hand on his shoulder to still him, and then grabbed a nearby blanket and put it on him.

“Sleep tight, Buck. You deserve it.”

 


End file.
